Days 119 – 129: Miles 2150.3 – 2396.3 / Cascade Locks to Snoqualmie Pass

Day 119: 2164.3 (15.19) / Entering Washington State!!!

We slept till 9am, had left over pasta for breakfast and went grocery shopping for some last things. Checked out at 12.00 and met Kate for lunch across the street where we had burgers, like the day before. Had a great lunch and started hiking around 1.30pm.

Walking across the bridge of the gods was emotional for me, and I cried. There was so much going on: cars, no sidewalk, crossing into my home state, being so close to the end, in the last of the three PCT states and the locals in their cars either congratulated us or welcomed us to Washington. It was a really special moment.

Then we hiked up 3500 feet and did about 15 miles to dry camp just as it was getting dark.

We camped 0.6 of Kate because we didn’t make it any further before dark.

Miles hiked: 15.19

Ascent: 4455 ft

Steps: 32.389

Day 120: 2190.2 Half way up first big climb in WA (26 miles)

Alarm rang at 5.15am as it had been the last few weeks. We were both tired. We made coffee in the tent as usual but also had breakfast in the tent because it was raining. We had blueberry donuts to get more calories and as we had dry camped, we didn’t have enough water for our usual breakfast – granola with nuts and dried fruit and peanut butter powder.

We started hiking at 6.50am. Our goal for today is to hike as much as possible but at least 24 miles. That’s the average we’ll have to hike for the next 22 days to make it to Canada in time of our deadline end of September. It will be tough because Washington has some of the toughest sections since the high sierra, like section K.

We passed Kate’s tent after 0.6 miles and tried not to wake her. We hiked 5 miles to the next water source.

The morning was gloomy and wet. At the first water source, we met our Japanese friend Bubbles again. We sat down to eat breakfast, make coffee and filter water. Shortly after, Kate showed up and sat down as well. It was a fun round. We hiked out with Kate but she was gone after less than a minute.

We hiked till two to reach the next water source as it was supposed to have a pic nic bench. When we got there, no bench was to be found and we sat on the ground again. Bubbles showed up and we had a nice lunch break together. We talked about Japan, our love for beer and food and the PCT. At this point, it had stopped drizzling and the sun came through the trees occasionally.

Around 5pm we made it to the last watersource for today and filtered another 6l, 3 per person. That’s as much as we can carry without the pack getting too heavy. The next water source is not for 11 miles and we’re camping half way before that. And 10 miles are uphill 1500 ft. Phew. Even just doing half at the ends of a 26 mile day is tough. But we made it. And we did even more than we had to. When we got to the place we wanted to camp at, there was a tent and we thought we might have to hike on. I recognized Kate’s tent and as she heard us, opened her fly and we joyfully greeted each other. She pointed us to another camp side close by and we pitched our tent and met her afterwards to have dinner together. And then Bubbles showed up and after a little introspection decided to stay and the third and last campsite and joined us as well. We hung out and ate and retreated to our tents around 8.30pm as it was getting quite cold. A super fun, but tough day filled with many laughs and joyful social interactions.

26 miles hiked

Ascent: 5312.3 ft

Descent: 5608.9 ft

Steps: 53307

Day 121: 2215.1 (24.8)

Alarm at 5.30am, Ice did not want to wake up. I could hear Bubbles pack up her tent. It was still dark. We made coffee and had pop tarts for breakfast, as we didn’t have enough water for granola again.

We left at 6.50am, Kate was still asleep but she’ll catch up with us in no time. We hiked up the remaining four miles and made it to the top at 8.45am. Beautiful view of Mt Adams, and sunny too, today, which means I might be able to charge my power bank during lunch break. I would need to on this long 7 day stretch without a resupply stop.

Only 1.5 miles downhill to water! We’re hiking through beautiful intact pine forest. The little brush is turning yellow and red. Fall is here! I noticed it last night in the tent as well, it’s getting colder.

My right knee feels ok this morning. I took an ibuprofen last night, for the third time on this trail, the last two times were within the last 7 days. I don’t like taking pain medication because I want to know what my body is trying to tell me. Taking ibuprofen at night is a trick Iceman told me about that his dad sometimes uses and which helps him, so I tried it out.

When we hiked 140 miles in 5 days (4×30+1×20 miles) to reach the Oregon/Washington border / Cascade locks, my knee really started to feel strange, stiff and sometimes painful. I’ve had issues with this right knee before but never this bad. I hyperextended it at the beginning of trail on Mt San Jacinto, maybe I sprained a ligament? Iceman got me a local CBD-arnica rub in Cascade Locks which seems to help.

I was joking last night during dinner I can’t get up from the ground or out of my tent anymore without using my hands to support my knees and that I’m probably just getting old, but my friends said it might be related to hiking 1635 miles / 2616km in the last few months. Maybe a combination of both? We had a good laugh as even Kate, the youngest among our lovely dinner group uses poles or hands to get up these days, she told us.

I just remembered I wanted to share a podcast we recently listened to. Most hikers I’ve seen on the pct listen to something, they wear earbuds of some kind. Some even listen to the radio on a speaker. I prefer not to, because I like to know what’s going on around me, hear birds, falling trees, other hikers or simply the wind. When you hike 12h+ a day, I try to be present and enjoy nature and let my mind wander, almost a walking meditation, taking everything in consciously and stopping to smell the roses. But when you start climbing with 30lbs at 6pm after hiking since 6.30/7am, mile 20, I will listen to a podcast or an audiobook to carry me the last few miles.

Climbing up out of Saeiad Valley, many hikers skipped the PCT and road walked to cut a few miles and lots of elevation at 100 degrees (can’t blame them!), so we had the whole trail to ourselves and it was really beautiful! On that stretch, we started philosophizing about thru-hiking and why it is such a wonderful experience and why so many people put themselves through this self inflicted torture. Our main conclusion was that walking all day, being outside, scarcity of food and water, feeling the elements, doing physically hard things and having no cellphone, social media or other constant consumables is how humans lived for a long time and so evolutionary, this is deeply engrained in our genes and collective history as a species. It was fun drawing parallels between hunter & gatherers and ourselves, e.g. camp fires giving us more than warmth and a hot meal. They also give you a calm and peacefulness, probably because subconsciously we know that fire keeps wild animals away.

Now coming to the podcast: a week after that conversation, we listened to my favorite podcaster, Andrew Huberman, the Huberman Lab, “How to grow from doing hard things”. Just what I needed to hear as things are getting harder and confirming some of our own amateur hypotheses why thru-hiking is a good thing despite being so close to torture. Have a listen, it’s super interesting (Just click on the link above). Let me know what you think in the comments or if you have recommendations for similar podcasts.

We got to camp at 7.10 as it was getting dark slowly,

Miles hiked: 24.8

Ascent: 4714.6 ft

Descent: 2627 ft

Steps: 54.321

So far, we are +3 miles ahead of schedule.

Day 122: 2242.2 Mt Adams Wilderness (27.2)

We left at 7.48am. Quite late. Mainly because I turned off my 5.30am alarm. It was quite cold, 9 degrees C. I started hiking with my rain jacket. My fingers were freezing. My warm gloves were at the bottom of my pack so my fingerless hiking gloves had to do.

Had lunch at 12.52pm at Trout Lake Creek. Running low on pepperoni. So the second tortilla was cheese only. But I like this Monterrey Jack cheese. Even without pepper (the store didn’t sell it).

It’s been a beautiful 12 mile hike through the forest so far with lots of water, mostly downhill. We’ll be climbing the next 12 miles and dry camp. Again. We took way too much water last night, so ended up dumping some this morning which was painful when you carried it all the way up.

When we got to the last water source half way up the climb, it was dry. Oh no! We overlooked the comments. It dried a week ago. Damn. We had to hike 3 more miles to the next water source, a lake, so we could drink and eat dinner and breakfast. It would be dark by the time we got there. Night hiking isn’t our favorite. It’s dangerous as you might trip on rocky terrain and headlamps might die. It’s pitch black in wilderness with little light pollution. Great to look at the stars but not to hike. Before we hiked on, we collected huckle berries. They’re so delicious and everywhere!

We found a site and got water, filtered it, made dinner and by the time we were done with all chores it was 10pm and we quickly passed out.

Miles hiked: 27.2

Ascent: 4706 ft

Descent: 3827 ft

Steps: 54.758

Day 123: 2263.9 (22.2) / Less than 400 miles to go

Today we left at 7am but I was tired and so was Ice, so we only did 22 miles. When we got to camp, I was super tired and cold. And then 3 kids showed up and set up all around us and yelled over our tent, didn’t say hi and even after we said “Good night”, kept yelling. Nothing a little angry german “Would you mind!? …” can’t fix. They were great after that.

The good news is, Brett is picking us up Friday and giving us a ride around the Wildcat fire closure, which is 26 miles, which means we can do a zero or two neros at some point. Wohooo

It was mostly forest, wet with occasionally exceptional views of Mt St Helen’s (We think) and the glacier at Mt Adams. We were above the clouds and only a few peaks broke through the clouds, it was wonderful.

In the afternoon, we left Mt Adams Wilderness and entered Goat Rocks Wilderness. I’ve been looking forward to this for a long time, it’s dissed to be incredibly beautiful. And tomorrow, we’ll do knives edge, and 5500 ft of ascent. Phew.

Other than that, I had a mentally hard day today: I wasn’t enjoying the hiking anymore, it’s no fun I said, everything hurts, we’re on such a tight deadline and all we do is hike all day, little breaks, and at camp only chores. My Garmin watch doesn’t sync my activities, my Garmin Inreach doesn’t live track, all other devices are dead or almost as there hasn’t been enough sun in Washington to use my solar panel to charge all devices. And it’s true. It’s become a battle against time and it’s hard. But it’s not supposed to be easy. And hard days are part of it. I’m not going to quit. We have less than 400 miles to go! Many people are using the fire closure to skip up 100 miles to Snoqualmie. But we won’t. Only official closures can be skipped in our book. And for family emergency. hike your own hike, they say. One day at a time, one step at a time always north towards Canada. Tomorrow is a new day.

Miles hiked: 22.2

Ascent: 2668 ft

Descent: 3267 ft

Steps: 46.222

(To my Garmin watch, this is a “recovery” activity 🤣 and my V02 has been going down…)

Day 124: (24.23) Knife’s Edge

We left at 7am, I didn’t sleep too well, woke up a few times last night. Took a sleeping pill art 11pm to finally fall asleep.

Hiked through forest for 8 miles, then went up the first climb of 1000 feet and had incredible views all around. We got up to Cispus Pass and then climbed down and had lunch at a beautiful little waterfall, covered in moss on both sides.

Then we went down some more and then climbed around the mountains and behind and up again. We were in a really beautiful rocky terrain. Then we had to traverse some snow – for the first time since the Sierra Nevada – and got up the third climb to Knife’s Edge. The ridge walk was incredible, clouds were moving over the ridge several times, it was really beautiful. Probably one of the prettiest days since the Sierra.

We sat down and had a pop tart. Then we saw the mountain goats climb up!! We’re in Goats Rock Wilderness so it checks out. When we continued hiking, they were right there on the other side of trail and we stopped and watched them for 15 minutes, it was a herd of 12, with two little ones and several big goat men with horns. They were so beautiful.

Then we hiked down and it started raining. We got really wet. We hiked till 7pm and set up in the forest next to a pond. It was wet and cool. Dry clothes, sleeping bag and warm food helps.

Tomorrow, we’re meeting Brett, and he picked up a few things like socks, power bank, fanny pack and fuel at REI in Olympia for us! We’re meeting him at Kracker Barrel. Super excited, and then driving 1.5h around the closure to chinook Pass. Today was awesome! Stoked for tomorrow.

Miles hiked: 24.23

Ascent: 4611 ft

Descent: 4872 ft

Steps: 50.743

Day 125: 2298.3 (10.77) Meeting Brett at white Pass Kracker Barrel

Hiked 10 miles and had some incredible views.

Around 11am, we met my friend Brett at Kracker Barrel. Wohooo, I had not seen him for a year. Also met Kate here again. We got a slice of pizza and our packages and went to Packwood. My friend Lisa sent a huge resupply package so we didn’t have to get any resupply. And ask the good stuff, too. Thank you so much, Lisa! 🙏

Originally we were going to drive around the fire closure today but spontaneously decided to stay the night in Packwood, 20 miles west of the PCT. We got a hotel room with full kitchen, went to a few breweries in town and later cooked dinner. Super fun!

Miles hiked: 10.77

Ascent: 1893 ft

Descent: 2326 ft

Steps: 28.595

126: Drive to Chinook Pass due to Wildcat fire closure (26 miles of PCT closed) 2337.3 (10.7)

We had bacon and egg breakfast and then drove over 2 ours to Chinook Pass to get around the closed section of the PCT.

We hiked almost 11 miles before it got to dark to hike.

Miles hiked: 10.7

Ascent: 2295 ft

Descent: 1531 ft

Steps: 22.882

Day 127: 2362.6 (26.33) /Pack Goats

Left at 7.20am, it was rainy and cold and we were in the clouds. At 11.00am, we got to a water source were two hunters with their 9 pack goats showed up and we had a little chat.

5.5 miles further north is the Mike Zurich Cabin where we had lunch. A dry space, but with recent noro virus cases so we were careful not to touch anything.

Then we hiked on in the rain and later had some sun. We got to another burn zone and ate lots of huckleberries and took some to go.

We didn’t find a campsite till 8.00pm and when we finally got to a listed one, there was a person there and all fly spots were gone and later another guy showed up. It was really cold and the site was slanted. Maybe less huckleberry picking tomorrow.

Miles hiked: 26.33

Ascent: 3654 ft

Descent: 4957 ft

Steps: 54334

Day 128: 2387.5 (25.8) Mirror Lake

Left at 7.30am, before chatted with Sweeping Beauty, 66, and Data, whom we were camped next to. It was quite cold and wet but not rainy.

Stopped at water 4 miles from camp and had service first time in days so hung out 30 min. Got cold sitting too long.

Hiked 15 min and saw a car at a dirt road crossing and I jokingly said to Ice “trail magic” but then proceeded to say “good morning” to the gentleman who was just getting out of his car. And then I saw the tables and chairs and he said it – trail magic. Yes!!Matador, the gentleman and retired army officer we later learned, 72 years young, had hiked the PCT and AT after he turned 70. Now he does trail magic. He had the best filled donuts from a local bakery, Ice and I each had two and a coke and chatted wit Matador for half an hour, about how when he was in Berlin in the 80s he ran into Russian officers and many more stories. It was great meeting him and the sugar fueled the biggest climb of the day we were just about to start. I was flying up the hill!

On the way down, I had service and looked something up while walking and slipped. My left foot slipped forward, and my right leg collapsed onto my bad knee and I was stuck unable to move because of pain for a few seconds. It hurt but nothing worse happened. 🤞

We had lunch at a water source and the sun finally had come out so we could dry our tent.

We hiked till almost 8pm again because the Twilight Lake we were going to stay at was hard to get water from and had no good camp sites. We hiked 1 mile up the trail to Mirror Lake and found a flat site and there were no other people close by.

It is past 10pm which is late and I’m tired. But I’m also stoked because we’re less than 10 miles from Snoqualmie Pass tonite, which means town food tomorrow for an early lunch!

Miles hiked: 25.8

Ascent: 5286 ft

Descent: 6033 ft

Steps: 58723

129: Snoqualmie Pass 2396.3 (9.07)

I turned off my alarm again and woke up at 6.20am. We hiked up a bit and then mostly down to Snoqualmie Pass. We got there around 12.00 and headed for the grocery store with Pizza bakery. We got a large Pizza (21”) and large Greek salad – half of the pizza to pack out for dinner. Both were really good – shout out to Pie for the People NW.

While eating lunch, Iceman complained about his big toe joint. My right knee has been hurting and so we spontaneously decided to stay for the night and not hike another 15 miles. This way, rest might cure our most likely overuse injuries and we calculated that we still can get to the border by September 29th is we do on average 23 miles. We’ve been doing a few more miles the last few days so the average went down despite taking a Nero today. Less than two weeks to go.

Miles hiked: 9.07

Ascent: 1164 ft

Descent: 2372 ft

Steps: 15.770

Thanks for reading! And please let me know in the comments what part of trail life you’re interested in or if you have any questions or feedback. I always love hearing from you.

Happy trails,

Disco

• Days 119 – 129: Miles 2150.3 – 2396.3 / Cascade Locks to Snoqualmie Pass
• Days 105 – 118: 1912 – 2150 / End of Oregon
• Days 103 & 104 (1849.3 – 1867.3)
• Day 102: Crater Lake 1824.6 then Rim Trail
• Day 101: Mile 1812.4 (21.66 miles)